India Director

Location: India

IDinsight India is at an important juncture in its evolution. We have built a substantial and impactful body of work across sectors and states in India. We have an experienced and well-qualified team of 100+ individuals and are poised for double-digit growth well into the future. We are a values-based organization and each one of us is passionate about using data to foster a more just, prosperous, and sustainable world. We believe in staying at the cutting edge, and continuously adding and innovating new evidence tools to amplify our partners’ impact.

Building on this strong foundation, we are poised to mobilize our unique approach and expertise towards social impact with greater depth and scale. To convert the range of exciting opportunities before us into actual impact, we are searching for exceptional and entrepreneurial leaders. We stand ready to welcome the development sector’s best leaders, and invest them with autonomy and resources to ambitiously pursue impactful campaigns, projects, and thought leadership initiatives.

If this sounds like you, we invite you to apply for the Director position at IDinsight India. Directors enjoy significant autonomy to pursue objectives that are central to IDinsight’s mission, and tailored to their experiences and strengths. These include the following:

• Leveraging experience, expertise, and networks towards conceptualizing, developing, and running high-impact initiatives;
• Leading and mentoring teams to deliver high-quality and impactful data and evidence projects;
• Being a thought leader and advocate for data-driven policy ideas and reform agendas;
• Helping set and execute IDinsight India’s growth targets and strategy, along with the other Directors;
• Supporting IDinsight’s organizational systems and processes to ensure we remain impactful, values-based, and nimble even as we grow; and
• Acting as an ambassador internally and externally for IDinsight’s mission and values.

About IDinsight

We amplify social impact by partnering with leaders to develop tailored solutions. Our mission is to use data and evidence to help leaders combat poverty worldwide.

IDinsight is a mission-driven global advisory, data analytics, and research organization that helps global development leaders maximize their social impact. We tailor a wide range of data and evidence tools, including randomized evaluations and machine learning, to help decision-makers design effective programs and rigorously test what works to support communities. We work with governments, multilateral agencies, foundations, and innovative non-profit organizations in Asia and Africa. Our work spans a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, education, health, governance, sanitation, financial inclusion, and other areas.

We have expertise in a variety of rigorous approaches and methodologies, which we tailor to each client depending on their needs and constraints. To achieve a positive social impact we:

• Support clients’ use of data and evidence for routine and major decision-making.
• Inform funding decisions – toward high-impact initiatives and away from less effective programs or approaches.
• Create and share tools, knowledge, and ideas that expand the use of data and evidence for social good.

Our diverse, growing team of roughly 180 outstanding colleagues operate in nearly two dozen countries around the world.  Learn more about our mission and values at www.IDinsight.org.  

About the India Director role

The Director role will be supported by the CEO and IDinsight India’s Directors, and will assume critical responsibility for driving large pieces of IDinsight’s work and strategy in India. Further, Directors will be supported by high quality research teams, an excellent operations team that ensures a well- functioning organization, and a communications team to help amplify the Director’s voice in policy circles. A significant portion of the Director’s time, along with a small budget, will be safeguarded for research, thought leadership, professional development, and leadership coaching (optional). Directors will be also provided with bi-annual performance reviews (including feedback from peers and direct reports) to help them continuously grow and learn as professionals.

Directors will be provided significant autonomy to leverage IDinsight as a platform to drive social impact (in consonance with our mission and strategy), while also being held accountable to clear goals that they will set for themselves in consultation with the CEO and other leaders at IDinsight India.

Please note that while the role is Delhi-based we are open to new locations with existing projects and clients.

Each Director’s role will be unique and tailored to their strengths and interests. However, at a high level, the role will include the following:

• Develop and lead high-impact opportunities: Building on their experience, expertise, and networks, Directors will help conceptualize, secure, fundraise, and execute impactful initiatives that use data and evidence to drive change. All initiatives should be in line with IDinsight’s mission and strategy but can take various forms, ranging from direct client-service engagements to amplify our partners’ impact, to contributing to public knowledge products aimed at infusing data and evidence into important social sector debates. Note that Directors will also be provided opportunities (and sometimes expected) to lead initiatives that are developed by other leaders at IDinsight, especially if the opportunity matches their interests.
• Lead, mentor and guide project teams: Project leadership involves liaising with senior clients regularly, ensuring the highest standards of research quality and ethics, overseeing and mentoring teams (usually 3-5 Managers, with 10-15 members in total), ensuring a safe and enabling atmosphere for colleagues, and keeping within project budgets. Most importantly, Directors are expected to set and drive their projects toward achieving social impact.
• Be a thought leader, a trusted advisor, and an advocate for sector-specific reforms: In addition to leading projects, Directors will be expected to apply their considerable experience, expertise, and skills to shape evidence-informed action within one or multiple sectors, regions, or specializations. This includes writing in leading newspapers and journals, speaking at important conferences, harnessing relationships and networks within the impact community to develop trusted advisory positions with senior leaders, and participating in consultative councils within governments, foundations, and/or non-profits.
• Contribute to IDinsight strategy: The Director will be responsible for working closely with India and global leadership teams to craft, refine and execute on realizing IDinsight’s strategy in India.
• Support organizational development: The Director will also be involved in contributing to global and regional operations such as recruitment, onboarding and performance reviews. They will be expected to support IDinsight to remain an impact-first, values-based, and nimble organization even as we grow.
• Exemplify IDinsight’s mission and values: Ensuring a strong alignment between incoming Directors and IDinsight’s values will be an important priority for us. Directors are the face of IDinsight both externally and internally and will be expected to always and unambiguously exemplify our mission and values.

This position is based in New Delhi and will likely include a good amount of domestic and international travel (around 30%, but dependent on exact role) to fulfill the responsibilities mentioned above.

Qualifications

We are looking for leaders who demonstrate:

• Deep passion for development and social impact, and strong alignment with IDinsight’s vision and mission;
• Record of building strong stakeholder and client relationships, especially with governments in India;
• Record of impactful thought leadership and advocacy around important social and/or technical issues;
• Fluency in the role of data and evidence tools – such as impact evaluations, representative surveys, monitoring
• systems, and/or machine learning – to create insights and impact;
• Ability to be an inspiring leader in a dynamic, multicultural, and values-based environment;
• Attitude to thrive in an entrepreneurial setting, and able to adapt to dynamic growth and change;
• Eagerness to be a lifelong learner with keen intellectual curiosity and sense of humor;
• Willingness to travel as needed and to work with remote colleagues;
• Experience of 10+ years using data and evidence to improve social impact, ideally in India;
• An advanced degree (Master’s or Doctoral), preferably in public policy, economics, public administration, business, or public health.

We understand that no one candidate will be able to excel in all these attributes. Instead, we are looking for leaders who significantly peak in certain attributes, while meeting a minimum threshold in all attributes.

IDinsight is growing and evolving quickly. We may suggest other suitable roles to candidates who apply, based on the overlap between IDinsight’s needs and candidates’ experience and qualifications.

Professional development

Skill and career development are core to IDinsight's values and long-term impact strategy, and have been noted highlights of teammates’ experiences. IDinsighters receive significant mentorship from IDinsight leadership, support from talented peers, and are given considerable autonomy when ready. They maintain professional development plans and are given "stretch" opportunities designed to strengthen a variety of skills. Real-time feedback is embedded in our culture and formal structure enables maximum professional growth. Additionally, teammates have access to an annual professional development stipend that they are encouraged to utilize to explore their career interests and develop their skills.

Nuts & bolts

Compensation & Benefits

Dependent on relevant experience and background. Highly competitive with similar roles. Benefits include two round-trip flights to home city per year, provident fund and retirement plan, generous leave, relocation allowance, comprehensive health insurance, technology and professional development stipends. We expect a minimum commitment of two years, but are hopeful that suitable candidates will seek to build a longer career at IDinsight. Start date is flexible, with a preference for joining early.

How to apply

Please apply online through our website: www.idinsight.org/careers. You will be asked to submit a cover letter and resume. Cover letter should include a compelling explanation of your interest and fit for this role. Please also include your preferred start date or range. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until position is filled. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Please direct any questions to careers@IDinsight.org.

We encourage Indian citizens and Overseas Citizens of India to apply, and will accept and equally consider applications from citizens of all nationalities (and will support successful candidates to secure work authorization in India). IDinsight recognizes the negative impact of inequity and exclusion, not only in the countries and communities where we work, but within organizations. We believe diversity, equity, and inclusion is critical to organizational success, and therefore are committed to building a diverse team and creating an equitable and inclusive professional experience for each of our team members. IDinsight is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage qualified candidates to apply regardless of (but not limited to) race, ethnicity, religion/creed, caste, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, HIV status, disability, ancestry, genetic information, military or veteran status or any other legally protected status.

More information, including details on IDinsight’s hiring process and frequently asked questions, can be found online at IDinsight Careers. Any questions should be directed to careers@IDinsight.org. 

IDinsight’s commitment to reducing power asymmetries

IDinsight is committed to reducing power asymmetries in the social sector. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion reflects our understanding of the need for the sector to abandon unhealthy practices of the past. We wish to be part of a new generation of international NGOs who are honest about this history and transparent about our role in the present. Our commitment is also aligned with the impact of our work. 

We seek a workforce that is inclusive of a variety of perspectives that will help us refine and improve our methods and relationships, and strengthen the services we provide our clients and their communities or constituencies. The following commitments represent our vision for the IDinsight team:

1. IDinsight will have greater representation from the populations with whom we work and clients we serve.
2. IDinsight will have greater representation from the countries in which we work.
3. Across all countries in which we recruit, we will seek greater representation from historically excluded communities.
4. IDinsight will foster an inclusive work culture that empowers a diverse team to do their best work.

IDinsight is an equal opportunity employer and strives to create a diverse and supportive workplace.